America's Next Top Model put the four remaining contestants to the test this week. It was do or die time as a double elimination loomed in their future.

The episode began with another dancing challenge. Instead of being masked this time, the girls had to perform a hula/hip hop mash-up of a dance. If that wasn't…interesting enough, the girls also had to learn some Hawaiian hula hand motions for certain words like determination, sadness, happiness, etc. This was because each girl had to perform a solo in the middle of their mash-up dance that told their personal story.

Not too much had changed from the previous dance challenge, Erin was overly confident and Nicole still can't dance. Miss Jay Alexander even made fun of Nicole after she completed her dancing routine. However, despite Erin's confidence, Laura was named the challenge winner. To somewhat quote Jennifer, "Laura has hips and she knows how to shake them." Laura won a trip back to Maui and decided that Jennifer could come along too.

As far as the photo shoot was concerned, the girls had to embody Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of the volcano. The description of this photo shoot sounded much cooler than what it actually turned out to be. The models had water coming up behind them, but it looked more like a fountain than giant ocean waves. The "volcano" also just seemed like a pile of rocks, that most of the girls ended up stumbling and tripping over anyway.

Each girl was trying harder than ever this week in their photo shoot, to prevent the final elimination before the final runway show. For some, it paid off. For others, it was highly detrimental.

Nicole shined as usual. However, there has been some speculation of Tyra Banks picking bad photos on purpose to "rig" the competition. In Nicole's case, what the episode showed during her photo shoot wasn't reflected very well of the final print the panel chose to represent her. There was no question in my mind that Nicole would make it to the end (in fact, she probably should be the winner based on her body of work), but I do think Tyra picked a less than stellar photo of hers to keep some sort of mystery involved in the process. Reality TV hates the obvious. But after Jay Manuel told Nicole she delivered a "gorgeous, campaign worthy image," there wasn't even a shred of doubt.

The remaining three girls were technically considered "the bottom" due to the double elimination. Tyra called all three girls down and described their strengths and weaknesses. Jennifer's photo wasn't great this week, but her overall body of work proved she could compete. Tyra was still obsessing about her orgasmic photo from weeks ago. Erin came back with a vengeance and wanted to prove herself to the judges. She did a fairly decent job, but just as there was no question on whether Nicole would make it, there also wasn't any question that Erin would be eliminated…no matter how good her photo was. Being in the bottom for the past month secured her fate. So, it was really between Jennifer and Laura to see who would make it to the finals. Laura didn't have the best photo shoot or the best photo of the bunch this week. However, Laura is definitely the most likable and entertaining the girl out of all the contestants. As Miss Jay put it, Laura is the "gold tooth in a mouth full of decay." While that's an odd analogy, Laura's photo, emphasizing her strong features, sent her into the final two with Nicole.

Jennifer and Erin were, of course, upset to be leaving right before the finals. However, neither one of them put on a façade. Both girls were truly upset to be leaving, but seemed happy about their overall show experience. They just need to remember the best fact about Top Model…those that don't win go on to do much bigger and better things with their modeling career, and it's most likely because they don't have the "Top Model" stigma attached to them. With that being said, I like Laura more than Nicole, so I hope Nicole wins this competition and Laura goes on to have a great modeling career without the help of Top Model.

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Story by Beth Wickman

Starpulse contributing writer